CHH donates $10,000 award to promote healthier food choices

Cabell Huntington Hospital contributed $10,000 to Huntington's Kitchen and Ebenezer Medical Outreach to help expand their Fresh Market program, establish a stronger and more coordinated local food system and help make locally grown fruits and vegetables more available and affordable to the community. The contribution will allow Ebenezer Medical Outreach, Inc., to hire a coordinator to identify and work with local farmers and food producers to sell their products to stores, restaurants and other businesses. It will also help create a more bountiful supply of fresh produce for the community through expansion of "The Huntington's Kitchen Fresh Market," which was originally developed to provide healthy, affordable produce to the low-income neighborhood surrounding Ebenezer Medical Outreach, but has subsequently grown in popularity throughout the entire Huntington community.

"This is a wonderful opportunity to increase the number of people who have access to fresh, local produce in our region," said Andrea Leffingwell, Director of Development for Ebenezer Medical Outreach, Inc. "More and more people seek out local produce because it is fresh, affordable and helps support the local economy. By providing greater access to fresh, local foods at affordable prices, we hope to improve the health and eating habits of people in our region and to provide sustainable funding for the great work being done at Huntington's Kitchen."

Earlier this month, Cabell Huntington Hospital was one of ten hospitals nationwide to receive the National Hospital Charitable Service Award and a $10,000 prize for its extensive efforts to combat obesity and obesity-related disease.

"We knew from the very beginning that if we won the National Hospital Charitable Service Award, we were going to invest the prize money back into our efforts to improve community health through promotion of healthier food choices," said Brent A. Marsteller, President and Chief Executive Officer of Cabell Huntington Hospital. "Our previous efforts have already addressed school lunches and food preparation at home, so we thought we thought this money could best be utilized to help make healthy fruits and vegetables more accessible to our community. It's also great that it will support our local farmers and food producers."

For more information about Huntington's Kitchen or The Huntington's Kitchen Fresh Market, call the kitchen at (304) 522-0887, or Ebenezer Medical Outreach, Inc., at (304) 529-0753.